I always felt that Tress should have used the TE more considering those throws are often "safe" inasmuch as they are typically of the shorter variety and a really large man is there to get his hands on the ball. And with Tress playing it "close to the vest" this would be a perfect addition to the arsenal.

A bit tougher for the Urban offense with the tempo, and more importantly the sheer number of impact players available to get the ball to. Sure the TE up the seam can open things up, but when you have multiple running backs who are dangerous and who knows how many h-backs with mad skills, there are only so many times to throw to the big guys without all the others languishing.

It is nice, but also not entirely easy, to have such an embarrassment of offensive riches.

Akron is a solid mid-major who of course would love nothing more than to win this game. If Thad can get the Bucks interested then they should win it, but who knows with this bunch in a secondary tournament.

Plenty of Chicago talent, but as in hoops most of the true top-level kids do not head downstate to Champaign. Used to be a pipeline from the public league down to U of I, but no longer. Can Lovie really turn that around? He has not coached in college in 20 years, but he does have the name recognition.

I would actually compare his tenure as Bears boss to that of Ditka. Plenty of talent, but lack of coaching acumen meant that Chicago underperformed their skill level. Ditka should have won a heckuva lot more than he did, and I would say the same for Lovie. Now he needs to hire good coordinators to have a prayer.

As for Cam Cameron, I am no big fan of his especially after seeing his train wreck at IU, but at least he has been in college more often and more recently than Lovie.

OSU has the daunting task of (hopefully if they can beat PSU) Sparty again, but that 6 seed would look awfully nice. Purdue should have lost yesterday and they would be in much better shape also. Basketbucks have only themselves to blame for being so inconsistent, with flashes of brilliance, to end up on the 7 line.

Yes, but this assumes that Lovie is a good coach. The West is there for the taking it seems, but hoisting this guy up as the man after multiple failures with the Bears and a mostly dismal run with the Bucs seems shortsighted at best. I am not saying Smith is an abject failure, but considering how long he has been out of college what is the point?

as someone who lives in Chocago and had to watch his "coaching" firsthand more often than I like to recall, I would think the Illini could do much better with this hire. Other than name value, Lovie would be yet another in a line of mediocre to terrible (here's looking at you Beckman) football head coaching hires. Go grab Rod Carey from NIU, or even a Cam Cameron from LSU rather than pay Lovie even more than those guys for less production.

Now this is perfect. Had not really thought of 2016 in this way. Assuming Urban has gotten the guys he wanted and coached them up (which we can be all but certain he has), this offense has a chance to be deadly with or without a bunch of returning starters.

After reading the LGHL article in its entirety, it breaks things down very well. The one point I feel may be missing is comparing offenses across college football from the Tressel era to the Urban era. I am fairly certain that if we take all offenses into account, the current Buckeyes have to face many more hurry-up and/or spread offenses, which leads to more offensive plays being run, which eventually leads to more points being scored and hence a greater number of points allowed by Buckeye defenses, even if the defenses have similar talent.

I love defense as much and likely more so than the average fan. If The Vest had to face as many up-tempo offenses as Urban does, I would bet the defensive numbers would be more on par with the current numbers. Between the opposing offenses running more plays, and the OSU offense scoring so quickly under Urban, the numbers may well skew higher regardless of the coach.

I do not disagree in that it is legal so do what you can, just not in favor of it myself. And the amount of money TTUN is spending on camps like this and JimBaugh jet-setting all over creation is disconcerting. Not that _ichigan spending tons of money bugs me per se, but just seems that cash like that could be better used. Maybe I am just a stick in the mud is all.

It is somewhat amusing that JimBaugh is tweaking the S$C, but it is pretty weak all the same. And while this camp thing is technically within the rules, it still seems like something that should not be happening. Hate to side with the SEC on much of anything, but no need to run a camp thousands of miles from home.

The Wildcats have to be looking at this as a golden opportunity-a win that would look huge due to beating a big name on the road. Certainly a game the Bucks could and should win, but if we have learned anything about this particular iteration of OSU hipsters it is that we cannot predict what they will do. Still taking OSU, but not minus the points.

Hazell may not be the next Woody, but he is seriously behind the 8-ball with the administration in West Lafayette. The AD only cares about the bottom line, and the president could not care less about sports. That can be said about the past 3 presidents of the university. They care about academics, and sports are there as a diversion and to occasionally make some money. Until that culture changes, nothing as far as football will change.

Purdue got lucky to catch lightning in a bottle by finding Joe Tiller, who helped to drag Big Ten offenses into the new millennium. That was a one-off it seems, as now everyone runs the same type of offenses (except for Wisky of course, because Wisky). So what can the Purdue staff do to change this? Not much at the moment.

Also, pretty sure that Purdue was in the Final Four in 2000 when they lost to Wisconsin. That may have been Elite Eight to get to the Final Four, but to suggest the basketball team has not mattered since 1980 as was posited above I think is a bit shortsighted. Boilers do have the most Big Ten championships in basketball, and they have been relevant more often than not.

All that said, when you regularly lose to MAC teams at home, maybe it its time to look another direction. And lastly, if anyone should be kicked out of the conference, it is Penn State, and we all know why.

I will follow the croots of course today, but seeing Aston Villa being basically relegated already is putting a damper on my mood. Not that I didn't know it was dire, but to see DJ drop that WMD and call out Villa in particular is depressing. Come on you Villans. Maybe Coombs can recruit for them somehow?

Someone should charge this Cutler character a "cakeage" fee for bringing his mitten-state attitude into a perfectly fine hockey matchup. The fight was ridiculous, as is anyone who wants to bring their own cake into a restaurant without first inquiring as to whether it is ok or not.

Great analogy. I have been waiting for Samuel to get a larger chunk of the offense his way since he has arrived. He may not be a 25 carry a game pounder, but a la Faulk he can be involved in 25-35 touches combined with carries, screens, routes from the slot, and the return game. Will/would be great to see what he can do with such opportunities. Weber can get plenty of carries, and Dunn a few as well. This would help,keep,some wear and tear off of JT also.

Excited for 2016, but with trepidation. That road schedule is daunting, even if Wisky is not as good with Chryst at the helm and PSU is still mediocre with Franklin there minus Hack. I do long to see Curtis Samuel as a focal point of the offense as he has looked to me to be a star from the moment he found the field.

Worst being subjective of course. Who among us does not love a little Disco Duck? I have not listened to "top 40" since I was in high school, but it is still interesting to see what is considered "popular" at times. Nice post-props for the info.

If he would simply get angry, that is one thing. But that purple anger is seemingly always directed at someone specific-often one of his 19-20 year old players or a referee doing his job. Neither of those things is ok. Be angry at a situation, but it is not ok to take this out on kids entrusted to your care. I really have a hard time understanding what parents look at this guy and his methods and think "wow, this seems like a perfect person to coach and help to raise my child".

The Cooper comparison above in another post is a pretty good one as well. Kelly wins, but has not been able to get over the jump when it really matters. I would never let him near my child, and I hope that this string of big-bowl futility continues in a major way come Jan 1.